


Reflections

by kvancelot (KVancelot)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Bonding, Childhood, Death References, Family, Gen, Introspection, Sad, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-14
Updated: 2012-05-14
Packaged: 2017-11-05 08:49:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/404527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KVancelot/pseuds/kvancelot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set during childhood, this short outlines some of Sokka's feelings after the biggest loss he and his sister have ever faced.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reflections

She still cried most nights, but who could blame her? After all, she was eight and they had just lost their mother.

Sokka hated it. He hated how aware he was, and how nearly every time Katara cried, it caused him to well up, too. He was older, and that meant he was supposed to be stronger. Then again, he wasn't even ten, so how much did he really understand what that meant?

At first, their father had soothed her. Mourning deeply himself, it only made sense. But time tracked differently for adults, and before the healing could really begin, he'd left to fight in the war. Gran-Gran had taken up the mantle next, but she, too, was feeling the great loss, and age robbed her of the ability to see those late breaking tears.

Sokka heard it all: every hitched breath, every sniffle, every quiet sob into her pillow. 

Most times, he would just have to crawl over and hold onto her until she fell asleep, but some nights were worse than others. Those nights tested his fortitude in a way most didn't experience until much later in life.

"I miss mom," she would say in her small voice and he would agree.

"Why can't she come back?" she would ask, and he wouldn't have an answer.

"Is she thinking about us?" she wondered, and he, without hesitation, would promise her always.

Sokka felt so lost. 

He didn't know how to make it better and wasn't sure how to dry her tears. He couldn't grasp what it would take for any of them to move on. But what kid that age could?

When her tears would persist, stretching late into the night, he would take out a small mirror he kept just for the occasion. They would lay on their backs and pass it back and forth, generally without comment. He only guessed it helped because they saw something of their mother in their reflections, though he had never admitted so much himself.

Somehow, it helped knowing that, even without words, they both recognized the power behind the faces they saw looking back down at them. 

Katara might have only been eight, and she probably didn't realize it, but she was helping him as much as he was helping her. Their bond and confidence in each other was just what he needed to not feel quite so lost.


End file.
